What Is the Origin of the Bird Flu Virus?

The exact origin of the bird flu virus is difficult to determine. The bird flu, at least in some form, has been around as long as birds have flown. However, history does have documentation of the first reported outbreak of the bird flu virus and its progression through the years.

1878

• A serious disease caused a high death rate among chickens in Italy. At the time, the cause was unknown, but years later as the science of disease pathology progressed, it was determined that it was an influenza virus that caused so many chickens to perish. Scientists concluded it must be a strain of influenza A because that was the only type to plague domesticated animals.

1918

• During World War I, the Spanish flu caused a pandemic. Through 1918 and 1919, between 50 and 100 million people died from influenza. Soldiers living in close quarters were especially vulnerable to this virus that could make a healthy person too weak to even walk within hours of infection.
  The Spanish flu was found to be a highly infectious form of the H5N1 avian flu virus. Somehow the bird flu virus was able to mutate making it possible for the virus to jump from infected birds to humans. Scientists believe that the United States was the location of origin of this outbreak.

1959

• A poultry farm in Aberdeen, Scotland, experienced an outbreak of disease in its birds. Although this strain was found to mild, testing concluded it was related to the flu virus that claimed lives in Southeast Asia.

1997

• The next large outbreak of a flu virus linked to the bird flu strain H5N1 was in Hong Kong. In 1997, 18 people became infected and six died. The government of Hong Kong reacted forcefully, killing a large number of chickens hoping to eliminate the origin of the virus.

Current

• Outbreaks and deaths caused by the bird flu virus are a cause of great concern. In 1998, scientists in the United States began clinical trials testing the antiviral drugs Relenza and Tamiflu in hopes of having effective medications to protect people. Since the outbreak and deaths in 1997, several strains of the bird flu have been found (H7N7, H7N2, H9N2, H5N2, H5N6 to name a few) causing many infections and deaths.